The extract below is from working conditions in Cwmbran but was, no doubt, common throughout Cornwall, Wales and Northern England.

Less than 200 years all members of a family would be miners.

Four year olds were employed to open air doors. They would have to sit in the dark, alone and wait of the sound of approaching trams. Sometimes there would be five or six doors to open and they would have to run ahead opening and closing the doors for which they were responsible. The working day was a twelve-hour shift, many children became frightened and ran home, others grew so tired that it was common for them to fall asleep on the tramlines, with fatal consequences.

Older children were employed as carters. They would have to haul, often by crawling in low claustrophobic tunnels, carts of coal to the surface. They had a leather strap tied around their waists attached to the cart by a chain between their legs.

In 1842 it was made illegal for women, girls and boys under twelve to work underground. The decision devastated many families for there was no compensation for loss of earnings. But it took years for the law to be enforced and as late as 1860's some mines were still secretly employing children under twelve.